


The True God of Mischief

by imnotcrazyiswear, KilljoysNeverDie



Series: Of Tricksters and Archangels [1]
Category: Supernatural, Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angel Powers, Fighting, Gabriel (Supernatural) is Loki, Miðgarðr | Midgard, Stolen Identity, Talking, Trickster Gabriel, Unfair Fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 21:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1241626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotcrazyiswear/pseuds/imnotcrazyiswear, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KilljoysNeverDie/pseuds/KilljoysNeverDie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki finds out about the archangel using his name and decides that he wants to meet him.<br/>Meanwhile Gabriel tries to hide at Crowley's house but fails.<br/>(Crowley isn't involved in the fight. Just a little talking at the beginning)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The True God of Mischief

**Author's Note:**

> The idea is from a weird dream I had and we tried to make some sense of it. :)

The rain was a steady and calming sound on the windows while Crowley sat with a glass of Craig and watched the fire. The sound of burning wood was drowned out by the drops falling heavy on the dirty glass of the three huge windows. At day there was no centimeter of the room where sunlight couldn't get but right now the fire was the only thing illuminating the room. Crowley wasn't sure how long it has been since sunset but he didn't really care. There were more important things than what hour it was right now.

He took a sip of the brown liquid and looked at the man in the second black armchair in front of the ancient fireplace. He didn't think they've ever encountered before until that day – he was sure he would have memories about the name, even though that face looked kind of familiar to him - and it wasn't exactly planned this time. In fact he was just trying to not do the normal crossroads-demon kind of stuff for a few hours when Gabriel – as he had introduced himself, a fucking  _archangel_  – popped up in his armchair.

Since the short “My name is Gabriel don't worry I won't smite you” no words were spoken.

“Are you going to say anything?” Crowley raised an eyebrow at the angel.

“Why aren't you?” he tipped his head a little to the right.

Crowley blinked a few times before he answered. “ _You_  were the one who randomly appeared inside  _my_ house. What do you expect? A dinner-party?”

“Dinner sounds good,” he smiled mischievously and grabbed a glass of wine out of the air. He shifted his weight a little and kept watching the dark haired man. “You really don't remember me, do you? Well it's a slightly different face I have to admit. Last time we met I introduced myself as Loki I think.”

“Loki? I remember him. You. But why would you go by a personality that isn't yours? Or are you tricking me right now, prankster...” it was more a kind of loud thinking but he didn't say anything he didn't want the Trickster to know. They had a past together, that's right. But he won't admit that he used to live with an archangel for months.

He chuckled and brought the glass to his lips while thinking. “This is who I really am. Maybe I'll tell you why I did it in a few years. When you are no crossroads-demon anymore. Will you forgive me?”  
  
“I think that is what you get when you make deals with the God of mischief. Even when that isn't you. I thought so at least. So why are you here then?”

“Just wanted to check if you are still alive. Hide from the God I … lent the personality of, the usual stuff.”

“Wait, what. You mean Loki – the  _real_ one – is after you and you had nothing better to do than come here and possibly get me killed..? You are more of an idiot than I thought.”

“Hey, I'm not just an angel anymore. I lived as an trickster for too long and it started to be a part of me. You could stab me with an angel blade and I'd still survive it. I'm not an idiot, just some guy who asks for your help here.”

“Why do you think I – of all creatures – could help you? It's probably impossible to hide an archangel when it's an Norse God who's looking for him. Don't you think?” He looked Gabriel up and down and frowned. He leaked grace everywhere and the whole room reeked like ozone. Crowley was sure that his former companion could be hunted down easily by everyone. “And why are you so unprotected?”

“I maybe got into a fight with some pagan Gods and maybe they found out who I really am. It's possible that I got injured with my own blade, and maybe my own brother stabbed me before I killed him so excuse me when it takes some time to regain all of my powers,” Gabriel's voice almost broke but he caught himself.

“Who did you kill?”

“I told you. My brother. The one who is called a tempter all the time but was the most glorious of all of us. The one I once looked up to. Who taught me everything. His set of wings was the most beautiful art of work that my father ever made and he wasn't exactly stupid. He loved his father too much and couldn't love humanity enough so he was thrown out of heaven and fell until he reached the place he hated even more. I could still feel his grace inside there. He was my brother, Crowley.”

“He tried to kill you, didn't he? So you just defended yourself and stopped the apocalypse just by the way.”

Gabriel felt a shift in the atmosphere and stood in the matter of half a second. It wasn’t much but enough for him to notice. He manifested his angel blade and looked at the dark shadow on the other side of the room. The light wasn’t bright but he could clearly see the man standing there. He should have been more careful.

Slightly smiling, Loki took a few steps forward. His imposer had been hard to track down, but no one ever escaped him. “Well, well, well”, he said softly when he sat down on a spare chair. “As you might figured, I am Loki, of Asgard.”  
  
The god of mischief observed the two creatures in front of him and shook his head in distaste. Unworthy mortals, archangels they called themselves. But he didn’t came all the way to Midgard to bathe himself in the glory of being superior to these creatures.  
  
“I think you know why I am here, Gabriel son of God.”

Titling his head to the right he gripped the blade tighter when the God stepped closer. When he sat down, Gabriel squinted over to Crowley and picked his glass back up, refilling it with wine. Hell, what was happening to him..? The most important question was if he could win a fight. He didn’t doubt himself but his arms still arched a bit from earlier. Maybe he wouldn’t need to fight this time though.  
  
“I’m afraid I know just too well,” his voice was steady and he tried to put just the right amount of angelic grace into it.

"Oh, what is this sound in your voice? Interesting… it feels like magic, trying to soothe me," Loki let out a small chuckle. "I never thought you would be afraid of a fight, Gabriel."  
  
With his usual elegance, Loki stood up again, always keeping the innocent look on his face. Again he observed the archangel in front of him, glancing to the knife in his hand. If Gabriel wanted to fight, he would have attacked by now. Deducing that the archangel wouldn’t try to kill him, the black haired god slowly wandered closer, until only a few centimeters were between them.  
  
“Are you afraid?”

"I’m not trying anything. Just considering," he let the small smile drop instantly. He didn’t venture laying down his blade but just held it firmly enough so it wouldn’t fall to the ground.  
  
Gabriel straightened himself a little more to get even the last inch possible out of this body and laughed breathy before he looked up to be able to look into the Trickster’s eyes. Why were people always taller than him? Well, than his current vessel.  
  
“Why would I be?”

Smiling at Gabriel's question Loki turned around and crossed his hands behind his back. With his gaze wandering out of the window, the god of chaos sighed heavily and let the two small daggers he had hidden in his sleeves glide into his palms. Loki didn’t intend to fight, but his imposer should know he was always ready for it.  
  
When he finally turned around again, the other man in the room entered Loki's view.  
  
“But Gabriel, where are your manners? You didn’t even introduce us properly.”  
  
Finally a small hint of madness flickered trough his eyes and the smile on the gods face grew darker.  
  
“I would like to know this creatures name… It seems… interesting.”

Watching Loki move he tried to learn as much as possible about the stranger whose name he had used for so long. He cocked one of his eyebrows and looked at the demon. Now that Lucifer was dead Hell would need a new one to hold everything together and Gabriel knew Crowley was just perfect for that purpose but he wouldn’t want him to get into a fight with a Norse God. That was one of the few things he probably wouldn’t survive.  
  
Gabriel wished his glass away and brought his full attention back to Loki. “His name is Crowley and he does know who you are. And he … well, he’s the current King of the crossroads and probably a good choice for the next King of Hell,” he didn’t pay any compliance to Crowley’s confused face, just stepped a little closer to his side.

Those eyes were all he knew from his brother and even more. That couldn’t be a good sign.

Loki shot Gabriel a sharp look and smiled sweetly at the other man. King of hell, a title that this filthy creature didn’t deserve. He knew from his so called father Odin that hell was a place similar to hel, the realm his daughter was ruling. And with all his might Loki would make sure that it stayed that way. She deserved that little piece of happiness and power.  
  
“Can you not talk for yourself, Crowley king of the crossroads?”

Gabriel would have prayed that Crowley wasn’t too idiotic to get himself killed with the first word but how would praying be a help for a demon. So he just send him one of the silent messages that were kind of like sharing thoughts.  
  
“I could. But every God I met yet didn’t really like talking to a filthy demon like me. But wait … at least  _I_  am King of  _something_. That’s more than you accomplished yet, isn’t it.”  
  
“Damn it, Crowley, shut up and stop looking trough my head,” Gabriel hissed. Now praying was a good idea.  
  
The smile faded from the gods face just to be replaced with an expression of pure madness. For a moment he considered to change into his frost giant form, summon an icicle and slit the demon open from his crotch to his neck. But instead Loki just calmly put the daggers in his belt, straightened his back and laughed. Not a normal, warm laugh, no. It started softly, growing louder and madder with time. Then suddenly Loki stopped laughing and pinned Crowley at the wall. “This is the first and last  
warning that i will give you, demon.” Loki hissed softly, the grip around Crowley's neck tightening.  
  
“Do not mock me!”  
  
The first thing he thought was how he could get Crowley somewhere save. He considered peeking into Loki’s mind but he wouldn’t take the risk of being caught. He stepped back when Crowley was pinned against the wall. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to displease you. That’s just the problem with demons. No one tells them what good behavior is and they talk before they think,” he tried to support his old friend and keep his mouth shut at the same time.  
  
Crowley would have tried to provoke Loki a little more but hearing the well-known hint of awe - not to be confused with fear - he usually just heard when Gabriel talked about his father he bit the words back. “What he said,” it slipped out but he hoped that that was good enough.  
  
Loki's grip just tightened more, before he finally let go.  
  
“If you dare to mock me again, I will kill you,” he snarled darkly.  
  
And for a moment there was a hint of red in Loki's eyes, a clear sign of his suppressed anger. The god of chaos still wanted to bury one of his daggers in the meat of this filthy creature that called himself a king so badly, he had to form his hands into fists, just so he wouldn’t reach for one of the black knives.  
  
As soon as Crowley could stand on his own again Gabriel glared at him. “Crowley, leave. Now.”  
  
“And leave you alone? He’ll kill you and you know it. Killing your brother wasn’t the best thing to do right after getting a God onto your track. I see what it does to you,” his voice was low and more silent than usually but Gabriel understood every word.  
  
He snapped his fingers and Crowley flew back against the wall, unable to move a single finger.  
  
“Shut up or do you want my grace to burn you out so bad?” He always had to watch out for his grace to stay where it was so it wouldn’t hurt the demon.  
  
Crowley’s eyes flicked red for a second but he didn’t say anything.  
  
“Thank you for tolerating his stupidity,” Gabriel said when he turned to Loki.  
  
Loki laughed humorless. “Oh, but who says I am tolerating  _your_  stupidity?”  
  
The smile returned to the gods face. If Gabriel wanted to fight, he would get a fight. Slowly, he pulled his daggers out again, while he observed every inch of his enemy. His expression, his body language and the soft waves of power and magic surrounding Gabriel. And then Loki  _knew_. The smile formed into a dark grin and the god nearly let out a chuckle. He knew it would become an interesting fight. Partly because Gabriel seemed to be a skilled warrior, but mainly because Loki knew that none of them would fight fair.  
  
"No one asks you to. You could always just leave. I’d be the one winning anyway," he didn’t knew it for sure. He couldn’t. He had no idea how his foe was trained but there was no way in heaven, earth or hell he’d dare to underestimate him. His eyes were hinted with something predatory and menacing now and he got into his usual position right before a fight, blade gripped tight and every part of his body alerted. He maybe wasn’t sure about the ending but sure prepared for the beginning.  
  
"Why should I leave? This is getting very entertaining…"  
  
Loki started circling around his enemy, looking out for a gap in his defenses. To his frustration he couldn’t find one and decided for a quick illusion that showed Gabriel how another Loki was slitting Crowley's throat. Maybe anger or sadness would make the archangel less careful.  
  
Gabriel moved with Loki and just wasted a short look in Crowley’s direction.  _Crowley, you okay?_  It took a lot of energy to get past Loki’s magic into Crowley’s head but after he got the smallest hint of an answer he was back at full energy for the fight and quickly created a second himself like the one who killed Lucifer earlier that night. Illusions, that was a game he could play. The ones the Trickster just created was better than every single one Gabriel ever encountered while fighting. He let it move just the same as himself so it wasn’t all too obvious what he did.  
  
Realizing Gabriel wasn’t to impressed with what he did and created and illusion himself, Loki sighed softly. Couldn’t the archangel just surrender? That would be so much easier. But then again, Loki wasn’t to fond of easy solutions. They didn’t seem… right. Seeing through Gabriel's tactic to confuse him, Loki copied his actions and created another illusion of himself. After a few moments Loki realized he didn’t remember which Gabriel was the real one. Inwardly he was cursing himself for being so reckless.  
  
He knew talking could be just the wrong way now so he created a second illusion and got them in different parts of the room. “Try me.” He challenged his adversaries. Adversary, since there was only one of them real.  
  
Surreptitiously he made a third copy of his vessel and became invisible himself to sit on top of one of the broad windowsills to watch what was happening in the room. Loki didn’t seem to notice the exchange of real and illusion and Gabriel was careful to keep an eye on the real God so he wouldn’t accidentally kill him.  
  
"Oh, now you are beginning to understand the game!" Loki said with a small smile on his lips.  
  
He knew that only one of the three archangels he saw could be real, but to this frustration he couldn’t deduce which one. Clenching his teeth the god created another illusion of himself, so their forces would be balanced.  
  
Finally Loki decided to attack. There would be no bad outcome. Scenario one was, that he could rule out one Gabriel to be the real one, scenario two was that he hit the archangel and killed him.  
  
With usual elegance Loki himself shot forward and sliced one of his daggers over the chest of the Gabriel closest to him.  
  
_Ow, that would have hurt. Let's see when he finds out that he needs an angel blade to kill me…_  Gabriel thought to himself and let the attacked one falter for a mere second and then slide out of Loki's space to turn around in the same move and manifest a blade. It would even work on a real angel, this wasn't just an illusion.  
  
While the true one was occupied he let the other two get to one of the fake-Gods and try to attack and maybe even destroy him.  
  
Loki was pretty sure that he had attacked the real archangel and felt the feeling of triumph rise in him. Shaking his head the God focused again. Nobody should celebrate a battle that has yet to be won.  
  
In the corner of his eye he saw how the other two illusions of Gabriel drew closer to one of his own. He couldn’t really fight, when he had to maintain his other selves. So Loki decided to make it quick and use his frostgiant form. Even though he hated it from the bottom of his heart, the god of lies and mischief couldn’t deny that it was quite effective. Letting his illusions fade, Loki concentrated on his magic core and drew the energy he needed to change. Maybe he was able to scare Gabriel a bit with his frostgiant form.  _That is what Laufey did and this is what I do, scare people_ , Loki thought a bit bitterly. When he had drawn enough energy from his core, Loki let the coolness of ice fill him. Slowly his skin turned blue, his muscles got thicker and he could feel the natural hate of his real ancestors flow trough him.  
  
When he focused on Gabriel again, Loki's eyes had the colour of blood.  
  
When the images Loki projected faded, the angel frowned. That couldn’t be good news. Could it?  
_What… okay, that’s a nice surprise. Too bad that I can’t show him my true form but oh well._  Gabriel thought and checked the earlier attacked illusion. There was no sign of the injury left. Good, so they looked all the same again. He let them jump all to the same point, fade into one person and two spread out again. It was a little like mixing atoms and forming new things with the old material but way easier for him. He placed on in front of and the other one behind Loki and waited for his next move.  
  
_Well, that is one interesting tactic… sadly this will not save him._  Loki thought. He never battled someone with the same powers as himself before and hadn't believed he ever would, yet he was standing there, slowly letting the room cool of, with his eyes darting between the three Gabriel's, trying to figure out which one was real now. Grimly the Norse god had to admit that he probably made a mistake by underestimating his foe.  
  
Suddenly he summoned two icicles in his hands, throwing them like spears at two of the archangels, hoping he had hit the real Gabriel.  
  
Gabriel just sat there, stunned.  _That_  would have hurt him. Badly. He let the two injured bodies fall to the ground and burst into sparkling stardust. He just liked the image of it.  
  
The last one stood alone but upright. “Come on then. Fair fight. Blade for blade. What do you think?” There wasn’t a lot of hope in him but he could try. Gabriel told the last illusion to just evade the ice in case Loki chose against the (not so fair) fair fight and got up from where he sat to walk around the room without being caught.  
  
Tilting his head slightly, Loki was considering the offer. He knew Gabriel like he knew himself, even though this was the first time they met. But Gabriel was long enough a trickster to start and think like one. And a trickster never agrees to a fair fight without having a plan b. While Loki returned to his preferred form he observed the archangel, searching for hidden weapons. Like he had one. Well not exactly one, but six. Inside his black leather coat he had six throwing knives, but first he would use his other weapons. Carefully watching his foe, the god picked up both his daggers, which he had dropped when he turned in to his frostgiant form. Slightly smiling his grip on the weapons tightened.  
  
“So be it, Gabriel son of God!”  
  
That was easier than he would ever have dared to imagine. This situation was how he needed and, to be honest, wanted it.  
  
He let the last illusion get the blade back and flick it in his hand so he held it upside down for stabbing from the top. He had seen Castiel do this more than once, too. It was just effective. Without another word he made the first attack and started something that could have looked like a dance from his real perspective. Next step for him, letting Loki injure the illusion. The difficulty was that he mustn’t let it look wanted.  
  
With a step to the side Loki had avoided getting hit by Gabriel's blade. A mocking grin sneaked on his pale face.  _Oh you want to dance? Then we shall dance!_  
  
Loki raised his left arm, as if he was attacking with the blade in his left hand, but in reality he used it to block Gabriel's right arm and duck under it. When he was standing behind the archangel, Loki turned around himself, swinging the dagger in his right hand down at Gabriel's back.  
  
With a quick, fluent motion Gabriel stepped behind Loki and - still invisible - let the last illusion fall to the ground and burst into dust with the color of the same emerald green the Trickster wore. At the same moment Gabriel got into a visible state again. He tucked back the God’s arms so he couldn’t hurt him and held his own blade to Loki’s throat with just enough pressure to dig in but not break the skin. “You lost.” These silently breathed words were just a hint of his usual voice and his lips curved into a grin.  
  
Stunned Loki watched Gabriel - no, the last of Gabriel's illusions - disappear as green dust. He stiffened when he felt the knife against his throat. Loki hated the position he was in, not being able to move and defeated.  _What a glorious day for a god… for a_ _ **king**..._  Loki thought, the shame of defeat nagging at him.  
  
Under different circumstances Loki would’ve freed himself and killed the person who dared to threaten him like that, but to the gods surprise he wasn’t angry. No, he was  _impressed_! Nobody was ever able to defeat him and then this archangel came along and knew exactly how to play Loki's game.  
  
The Norse couldn’t stop himself from chuckling.  
  
“Well played, very well played indeed,” Loki softly said. “Nobody was ever able to fool me the way you did. I am impressed.”  
  
Gabriel couldn’t help but chuckle himself a little. “Told you I’d win. Now, when I let go of you, do me a favor and don’t try to kill me, would you?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just took a step backwards, hid is angelblade again and snapped to free Crowley who was still pinned against the wall. He knew about how the demon could complain so he touched Loki’s shoulder right after freeing Crowley and the next second they stood in a place near the cliffs somewhere in Greece - one of Gabriel’s favorite places and maybe he had shifted the time a little so it would still be night - illuminated by the silvery moonlight.  
  
“I’d never thought I’d ever say this but … I’m truly sorry, dearest God of mischief. The true one,” he smiled a little and looked up into the night sky.

 


End file.
